The Great Backpack Dilemma-Our Return Home Chapter 1

[CatNipRules]

This is my long overdue trip report. We've been home for a week and thanks to a wonderful cold that I got on vacation, I've not been feeling like doing much of anything. Well, I'm finally returning back to the land of the living. As such, I'm ready to start my Trip Report. For those of you that are new to my world, here is a link to my Pre-trip report: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2921256

Now, onto the fun.

When: October 4th thru the 13th
Why: Because we need a break from the everyday normal stuff

October 4th: AKA Travel Day

We went to bed early the night before. Well, I should say that we tried to go to bed early. The original plan was to be in bed by 9 p.m. Especially since we have to be up by 2:30 a.m. I found myself asking myself again what I was thinking when I booked our flight out at 6:30 a.m. I obviously wasn't thinking.

So, we wake up and this is our breakfast:

Sorry for the sideways picture. Photobucket has decided that it hates me for whatever reason and the picture turned sideways.

Mike had chocolate milk. I had orange juice and Chris had milk. Just plain old white milk. He's not very adventurous when it comes to what he drinks. He would probably drink nothing at all, but he needed something to wash down the donuts with.

Then it's off to get dressed. This is me:

And then we have Chris:

Take note of him smiling. It's very, very hard to get him to smile. Go figure that I can get him to smile at 3 a.m., but no other time. LOL!!

Mike is very, very grumpy that early in the morning and I couldn't get a good picture of him. At least not any that are family friendly. LOL!!

So, we sit down and watch a bit of tv. If it was up to me we would have been on the road already, but Mike refused to leave that early. LOL!!

So, we finally leave after setting the alarm. We get to the airport at 5 a.m. We get through security very quickly. Although since I was wearing my ankle brace, they decided that I needed extra scanning. They ran some cloth over it and put it through a scanner. Then they did the same to my hand. I guess it came back clean because I was waved through.

The process here was very easy. Much easier than it would be on our return trip home. That's another story for later.

So, we go and sit and wait for them to board the plan. It was relatively quick and before we knew it we were in the air. The total flight time from Huntsville to Atlanta was only about 30 minutes. I think we spent more time boarding and waiting for the plane to take off than we actually spent in the air.

So, we get to Atlanta and I'm looking for the Starbucks. Drat. It's in another terminal and I'm not feeling up to going to look for it. So, we look for an alternative. Oh, Pizza Hut. Chris is excited because he loves pizza. So, we take a walk over there and much to his disappointment he sees that they are only serving breakfast. My son is not a breakfast fan. Unless you consider pizza a breakfast food. He would much prefer skipping breakfast all together and going right to lunch.

Drat. So, we come up with a plan C. Ohhhhh.... There's a pretzel place. They have all kinds of pretzels. Auntie Anne's. Yummy. They have a very interesting pretzel that catches Chris's eye. It's a pepperoni pizza pretzel.

Here's a picture of it. Since I'd never seen or heard of it before I had to take a picture. LOL!

Mike had a cinnamon sugar pretzel and I had cinnamon sugar pretzel bites. They were actually pretty good, but they were a bit on the cold side and not all that fresh.

Our flight was called shortly after we finished eating. And we were soon in the air. Again, the actual flight time was shorter than the wait time. We did get drinks and a bag of peanuts. LOL!!

Although by the time they got everyone served it was nearly time to land.

So, we get to the airport and find our way to the DME. I didn't realize that if you have the booklet you don't have to wait in line. You can go right to the bus area! Yay!!

So, we walk right onto the waiting bus and get the second row of seats. My ankle was starting to throb at this point because of all the walking. Thank goodness we would have the ECV from Walker.

So, our bus driver, who's name I totally forgot to write down, whisks us away and to the hotel. We were the second stop on the route. This became a common theme on the trip. I love French Quarter for this very reason.

So, after a short bus ride we arrive at the hotel. They give us the beads. I love them. They are just like the ones I got from my friend who lives in New Orleans.

We walk up to the checkin desk and no one is waiting in front of us. Now, this is where the first bit of magic happens.

If you were with my on my PTR you will know that we changed our arrival date from the 5th to the 4th. this was to take advantage of the free dining. One extra day at Disney and free dining? Heck yeah!!

So, we needed to buy an extra days ticket. Well, my TA wasn't sure how much it was going to cost. So, I asked around here and found out that it was better to wait. Well, I'm glad I did.

The cast member we had was just awesome. His name was Matt and I asked him about it. He said that normally they have to send us over to the concierge desk, but since he normally works there, he would take care of it for us!! This is one of the many reasons I love this hotel. They are just so willing to take care of you here. So, very friendly and down home.

Well, after we get checked in and get our KTTW card, we are ready to take off. We go bell services to check on my ECV. It was about 3 p.m. Florida time. It hadn't been delivered yet, so we decided to go to pick up our mugs and get something to drink.

After this, we walked to our room to get settled in.
We were in building 7, room 7146. It was pretty far out, but still within walking distance to pretty much everything and the view of the river was just awesome.

Here are our Mickey Ears:

And our view of the river:

I didn't get a view of our room. Because the guys decided that crashing was more important. LOL!!

Our bags hand't been delivered yet of course. So, we decided to freshen up a bit and then head to Downtown Disney. After we stopped to get my ECV.

Up Next: What happened to Mike's Suitcase: AKA, my first meltdown of the trip......

 

[BearcatsFan]

Glad to see I'm not the only one Photobucket hates. Love the pics of you and Chris - did Mike wear a matching shirt, too?

Look forward to more details ... and am very curious as to what happened to Mike's luggage ...

 

[OhMari]

I went to your pre-trip to see what happened to your ankle, but it was a lot of reading-could you just tell me?
Why? Because I sprained my ankle 2 months ago, and it just keeps swelling up and not getting better.

Looking forward to seeing why you had a melt down, I have at least 2 or 3 per trip-I think it is just from over planning and finding out your best laid plans sometimes just don't work out.

 

[CatNipRules]

Glad to see I'm not the only one Photobucket hates. Love the pics of you and Chris - did Mike wear a matching shirt, too?

Look forward to more details ... and am very curious as to what happened to Mike's luggage ...

Yeah, Mike had a matching shirt too, but he wasn't cooperating with taking pictures that morning. LOL!!

I went to your pre-trip to see what happened to your ankle, but it was a lot of reading-could you just tell me?
Why? Because I sprained my ankle 2 months ago, and it just keeps swelling up and not getting better.

Looking forward to seeing why you had a melt down, I have at least 2 or 3 per trip-I think it is just from over planning and finding out your best laid plans sometimes just don't work out.

Basically I sprained my ankle when I was walking my bosses dog a month before the trip. It isn't the first time that I've sprained it either.

did you have it x-rayed to make sure it's not broken? I've been taking an anti-inflammatory to bring down the swelling. The thing that's helped the most has been staying off it and wearing my ankle brace.

Oh I definitely had more than one this trip. And it was very hard to tell when it would come on. LOL!! I can laugh about it now, but at the time it wasn't pretty.

 

[CatNipRules]

Okay, so when we last left off we were on our way to Downtown Disney. We had stopped up picked up the ECV.

So, we had to make a decision. Do we take the bus or the boat?

Chris decided that we were going to take the boat.

Let me just tell you one thing. These ECV's are tricky to maneuver on the boats. It's like trying to fit a puzzle piece in. You have to do it just right. I can't tell you how many times I just made it. Then, I rolled over the ramps. LOL!

I swear that they sprayed the river for bugs. Because it smelled like bug spray. I'm a bit sensitive to the smell, so I was breathing out of my mouth for most of the trip. I'm glad that it wasn't any longer, because it got to the point where I was afraid that my asthma was going to start acting up because of the smell.

So, we get to the dock and everyone else gets off. Then, the captain tells me to back up off of the boat. Hahaha.... I have a hard enough time going forward and he wants me to back up? Oh wait, he's actually serious.

Okay, well watch out for your feet. It took me three tries, but I finally got off of the boat. Just as soon as we hit dry land, I felt a few sprinkles. This is Florida after all. It always has to rain between 3 and 6. LOL!!

So, we get to DTD and we go to exchange our Photopass plus certificate for the lanyard. Well, it's kind of deceiving. Because the back tells you to go to Team Mickey at DTD, but it doesn't tell you that you have to go to the photopass and not Guest Relations. Chris noticed this after us standing in line for about 5 minutes. I asked the Cast Member and showed them the certificate and they told us to come on over.

So, we got that done quickly and were on our way. We walked around for awhile longer and then we decided to head over to the restaurant we were eating at that night. We were starving, but it was about an hour and a half early. I decided that they might or might not take us that early. Nothing ventured nothing gained. It starts sputtering rain on our way.

Now, might be a good time to mention that the umbrellas that we bought were packed in our luggage. Smart idea. And Michael decided that we didn't need ponchos. That we could make do with the umbrellas. Yeah. Don't think so. More on that later. LOL!!

So, we get the Paradiso 37 and ask them if they can take us early. Sure, no problem. It's a slow night and before the dinner rush.

So, we are quickly seated and then greeted by our waiter. The meal here was definitely interesting. I miss Cuban food. And it was definitely more of a Cuban variety than it was Spanish. The most interesting thing was the dessert. It was a gelato, but it was blood orange flavored. Very, very good!! I definitely recommend this to anyone!

I'm going to possibly do a dining review, but am concentrating on the Trip report right now.

Okay, so we finish up eating and we soon discover that the sky has opened up and poured all over the ECV. Okay, I wipe it off with my hand and the hostess asks if we would like towel to dry it off. Yes please.

Okay, so we putter around for a little bit longer, but we are all getting tired. It's about 8 p.m. and we've been up since 2:30 a.m. We decide to go back to the hotel. Boat or bus? Well, since we are closer to the bus stop, we head there. That's when the sky decides to open up again. We are in Florida after all.

So, I'm sitting there waiting for our bus and getting soaked to the bone. It's not cold, but the rain is making my teeth chatter. Why was this a good idea? I have no idea. I was really starting to question the wisdom of going anywhere that night. I totally forgot how much it rains in Florida in October.

So, after what seemed like forever, but was probably only 3 or 4 minutes a bus finally comes. however, my relief was shortlived. Why? Well, he already had 2 ECV's on board and couldn't take any more. I told Mike and Chris to go ahead and I'd wait for the next one. They wouldn't hear of it though. I felt bad for them getting soaked right along with me. I was starting to question my decision to get an ECV and it was only the first night.....

So, another 5 minutes or so go by and another bus finally comes. Well, this was my first experience with driving the ECV onto the new bus ramps that they have. Lets just say that Mike decided that from that point on he would walk the ECV up the ramps. I was horrible with the whole thing. It was terrible. LOL! I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was ready to just leave the ECV in the hotel and forget about it for the rest of the week. Ankle be damned....

Well, after we get back to the hotel, I'm pretty upset and depressed about the whole ECV situation. I don't want to touch the thing. Mike has to force me to drive it back to the room. I'm sure I was quite the sight. I felt like I was ruining the vacation for Chris and Mike. We stopped at the restaurant and grabbed drinks and a snack and then headed back to our room.

Our luggage had been delivered. Wait a second.... One bag is missing..... Mike's luggage didn't make it to the hotel. He checks the Delta app on the phone. It arrived at the hotel. I call bell services and they don't have it there. So, they are going to do some investigating....

Mike tells me that he will wear the same clothes all week. Like that's going to make me feel any better.... We have matching shirts. What good is matching shirts if one member of the family isn't matching??

They call back and they are going to have to research it some more.....

This was enough to set me off once again. I lost it and dissolved into a puddle of tears on the spot. I fell onto the bed. Wet clothes and all. Mike and Chris are just standing there looking at me like I've lost my mind. Mike finally decides to go down there and wait. I'm sure he did it to get away from me and my emotional mess...

So, a few minutes after he leaves, he calls me back to give me an update. They've sent two of their employees down to the airport to look for the bags. At this point, I'm bound and determined to stay in the hotel room for the entire vacation. We aren't even a full day into it and things are starting to go wrong.

So, I get up and grab my night clothes and head to take a bath. Okay, so let me just say that I'm spoiled with my tub at home. It's a huge thing and I'm not used to tiny narrow tubs anymore. LOL! So, I'm pouting about this also. I think I was just overtired and needed a good nights sleep. Well, after I was done and came out of the bathroom, Chris told me that Mike had called. Apparently they had located our bags.

Apparently someone staying at Coronado Springs had the same last name as me. Apparently they didn't bother to check the names on the tags or the hotel. Which I find absurd. But, okay, mistakes happen. We should have the bag within a half hour.

Up next: Our first full day in the parks......

 

[BearcatsFan]

Awwww!

I can so identify with the ECV/boat/bus nightmare (you know I can). They're such a pain in the butt to maneuver - and you're right, it's like fitting a piece into a puzzle on the boat.

I am picturing your meltdown in the room in my mind. Unfortunately, I can identify with that, also.

At least the meal at Paradiso was good. You'll have to tell me more about this blood orange gelato - sounds yummy!

Glad they found the bags! Who would have thought they wouldn't have checked the name against the hotel on the tag?

 

[shalom]

Who would have thought they wouldn't have checked the name against the hotel on the tag?

Ditto that. There must be a gazillion people heading in and out of WDW hotels every day; the odds of people sharing names must be HUGE, so why they don't always check the hotel is beyond me.

Although I'm glad you got your luggage back. I remember someone whose luggage went to the wrong room, and the people there didn't return it until they left some days later!

Hope things got better. Haven't had your experiences with the ECV, but totally relate to the meltdown from lack of sleep.

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Michelle! I finally found your TR! sorry about the rough start to your trip with the rain, ECV maneuvering, and the luggage fiasco! At least they found the bag. Hopefully, a good nights sleep worked wonders.